She put out her hand to stop him. "There, never mind all that; I've been repaid a hundredfold. We won't talk of the past; that's done with. What we have to consider is the future. Now, you know, Comethup, you're just a little bit inclined to be extravagant--don't interrupt me, and don't think that I'm blaming you--but I think you are extravagant, just a _little_ bit. Probably the fault has been mine because I followed a ridiculous practice of giving you large sums of money just whenever it occurred to me that you wanted them. Of course, you were only a boy, and the temptation to spend was a natural one. Now I think we'll follow a different plan. I want you to be quite free and independent; I want you to have money actually of your own, that you may use for your own purposes. Therefore I've decided to put a sum in the bank for you, and to give you your own cheque book, and let you look after your own affairs. I trust you so completely that I think it is quite the best thing to do. You know, or you ought to know by this time, that I'm a very rich woman, and some day you'll have means. Live your own life and please yourself, and you'll please me. Now kiss me and say good-night; you'll wake up a man in the morning. Prince Charming goes upstairs for the last time to-night." He put his arm about her and kissed her gently. "Not for the last time, dear aunt," he said; "the years have not changed me so much as that, I hope." She put up her hand and softly patted the hand that lay on her shoulder. "No, no; God knows they have not! You're a good fellow, Comethup; and, if I'm not in the way, I think I want to live a few more years yet, old though I am, to find out whether you verify all my hopes of you. Good-night; sleep well." The next day Comethup entered into possession of all his new dignities: interviewed the manager at his aunt's bank, and was solemnly congratulated by that gentleman; cashed his first cheque, and felt somehow that the coins were different from any that had jingled in his pockets before. It was good, too, to feel that perfect new sense of freedom which the mere turn of a day had given him; to breathe that larger air of manhood which he felt was his to have and to hold. There was quite a large dinner party that evening, for it was necessary, in his aunt's opinion, that he should be shown, now that he had reached manhood's estate, just as he had been shown when he first came into her life. A few days after, he timidly informed his aunt one morning that he should like to visit the captain. "You know it's years since I have seen him, and I----"